Monday’s Buzz: 11.1.10

Protesters from Yale and Harvard momentarily stole the spotlight from President Obama in the first few minutes of his speech to rally Connecticut voters for the upcoming midterm elections. The students advocated for increased funding for the global AIDS epidemic at a Democratic rally in Bridgeport, Conn. this Saturday. The protesters, approximately 30 students seated together 50 feet from the stage, carried a large white banner with red painted letters that spelled out their political message: “Keep the promise: $50 billion for global AIDS.”

Over a hundred Yale students gave up Halloween weekend at Yale for an event with equally ridiculous costumes. At the “Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear” in Washington, D.C., an event organized by Comedy Central personalities Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, attendees dressed as clowns, tea bags and “Mama Grizzlies.” The comedians said they planned the rally in response to the extreme partisan rhetoric that has characterized the midterm elections campaigns and media coverage. About 215,000 people swarmed into the National Mall, coming from as far away as Hawaii and Oregon.

From Pierson’s Inferno dance to liquor-treating in the residential colleges, to the traditional Yale Symphony Orchestra concert in Woolsey Hall, this Halloween weekend was full of revelry — but it was not without rules. Safety was a driving force behind Yale officials’ and students’ plans for Halloween festivities this weekend, as they struggled to control alcohol consumption and overcrowding at social functions. Residential college masters and deans reminded students to celebrate responsibly and reiterated Yale College’s regulations on social functions and drinking. But there was little they could do to prevent large parties and the practice of liquor-treating, where several suites in a college sign up to host students and provide a signature drink instead of candy.